$3 Garage Sale Chair

Kitchen Chairs: Back from the 80's

Again, our kitchen table was left in our house by the previous owners. (this was their third home) So I had a great table with nice chairs but the chair pads were a lovely abstract 80's motif. Not wretched but not too appealing either.

Here's a close up since I know you're loving it. This was just regular upholstery type fabric.

The first step was to drive 4 hours to SAS fabrics and buy me some new bargain priced faux leather to work with. Well worth the trip. Next I unscrew the pads from the chairs, removed the old fabric and cut the new fabric using the old fabric as a guide.

Next I pulled out my 50 cent garage sale staple gun and stapled the new fabric right on there, making sure to do opposite sides first while gently pulling.

I chose this fabric for it's ability to wipe up easily after spills, neutral look, and affordable price. I think this project cost me around $15 total.

And there you go, updated and spill proof!

Now come on over and have seat.

Mayan to Modern Nightstand

I had the very good fortune of having several pieces of furniture left in my house when I purchased it. Though it wasn't my dream furniture, it sure saved us a lot of money to not have to go out and buy a whole house full of furniture.

My pre-owned Ikea bedroom furniture did happen to be a stained black color. In order to make the furniture match and extend the life of my home improvement cash pile, I just bought some minwax ebony stain and gave the old nightstands a new life.

Here's the piece in it's original condition.

Wrong color

oil rubbed bronze pulls

Mayan pyramid style feet at the bottom (not a real term)

So I began by sanding this sucker down. I learned from my first experience with the headboard that was also the same color that if you are going to be using stain you MUST sand it completely down to nothing but bare wood.

Then I knocked off the Mayan feet of course.

After giving her a good rub down to make sure she was free of dust I gave her a coat of ebony stain, wiped it off and let her dry. Then I bought a cheap old 4x4 and cut it into feet for her. This raised the piece up to a better height to reach from my bed and gave it a much more updated feel.

Then I brought her inside, cozied her up to the bed, added my $5 garage sale lamp, bought some brushed nickel drawer pulls that match the lamp, and there she is, my updated side table.

(Derek has a matching one of course)

The headboard was done the same way but I also stained the metal piece at the top to be black instead of rusty looking with the same stain!

Right color

matching drawer pulls

modern feet with much better height!